Column and column device for liquid chromatography, and a method for using said column device

Abstract: A column for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography, including a column body (1) made of a transparent or translucent plastic and having a column chamber, said column body having one end (3) open and the other provided with an outflow opening, a pair of upstream and downstream filters (8,8') for shutting a granular filler inside said column chamber, and a head portion (2) being made of a plastics and detachably fitted to said one open end of the column body and having an inflow through opening communicating with interior of said column body. A method for using the column device is also disclosed for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a column for liquid chromatography to be used for separating and purifying materials, particularly physiologically active materials such as protein and peptide, and to a method for using such a column. (2) Related Art Statement: Heretofore, the physiologically active materials such as protein and peptide have been ordinarily separated and purified by low-pressure chromatography. According to this method, a soft gel is charged into a cylindrical glass column, and an intended material is separated and purified by spontaneously flowing a raw material liquid through the soft gel. However, since this method called an open system requires a long time for the separation and purification in a practical scale, investigation has been recently being effected to make the separation and purification by using a high speed liquid chromatography (HPLC) in a shorter time. According to recently developed and employed high speed liquid chromatography, a raw material liquid is passed through a granular filler charged into a slender stainless column having high pressure proof for separating and purifying an intended material. However, the separation and purification with such a stainless column has the following problems. That is, (1) since even the stainless steel column may be corroded, the raw material liquid may be contaminated. (2) Since the stainless column is opaque, whether a bubble is present in the filler or not or whether the raw material liquid flows through the filler in an normal state or not cannot be visually observed. Consequently, fluctuation or deterioration of measurement results cannot be preliminarily prevented from the outside. Further, even if the measurement result becomes relatively broad, it is difficult to correctly grasp a reason therefor. (3) Further, since the conventional high speed liquid chromatography is long and the grain size of the granular filler charged into the column is small, the pressure loss is large when the liquid is passed through the filler in the column device. Accordingly, in order to effect the separation and purification at a high speed, the raw material liquid must be fed into the column under high pressure. Therefore, it is necessary that sufficient pressure proof is afforded upon the stainless column, and a high pressure pump is used. This makes the equipment very expensive. (4) When the column equipment is scaled up for effecting the separation and purification in a large amount, the weight of the column becomes greater. Thus, this makes it difficult to adopt the stainless column, also from the standpoint of the cost. (5) Furthermore, there is the possibility that protein or the like to be separated and purified is deactivated under the separation and purification at high pressure. On the other hand, since the raw material liquid can be passed through a membrane chromatography device using a separating membrane under a relatively low pressure, no high pressure acts in such a membrane chromatography device even at a high flow rate. Therefore, since the degree of the pressure proof in the membrane chromatography device can be reduced as compared with the stainless column, the cost of the column equipment can be decreased. However, an amount of the membrane chromatography device capable of adsorbing a material is far smaller than that of the granular filler in the high speed liquid chromatography. Therefore, although the separation and purification can be effected speedily at a high flow rate, the amount of the material recovered is low. When an inorganic glass column is used for separating a liquid blood-origin medicine from a raw liquid to be treated, silanol groups in the glass deactivate protein in the blood-origin medicine. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention seeks to solve or reduce at least partly the problems possessed by the above mentioned prior art. The invention can be free from contamination of the raw material liquid with rust, etc., and may allow the presence of bubbles in the filler (carrier) and the passing state of the raw material liquid through the column to be visually observed during the separation and purification. The column may be light in weight and easy to install. The column for liquid chromatography according to the present invention, is as set out in claim 1. The following optional features are considered preferable as the column for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention (1) The head member is a transparent or translucent resin, and each of the column body and the head portion is made of a material selected from polypropylene, high density polyethylene, polysulfone and polyvinyl chloride. (2) A stepped portion is circumferentially provided at each of sealingly contacting surfaces of the column body and the head member, and the stepped portion of the column body engages with that of head portion. (3) The head member comprises a flange larger of diameter than an insertion portion sealingly fitted into the open end portion of the column body. (4) The insertion portion of the head member has a cylindrical shape, a thread is provided at an outer peripheral surface of the insertion portion, a corresponding thread portion is provided at an a cylindrical inner peripheral surface of the open end of the column body, and the thread portions mesh with each other. The column for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention may have a granular filler charged into the column chamber. Further, the method for separating and purifying a physiologically active material according to the present invention is characterized by using the above column for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography, including at a granular filler, speed from 50 column volume/hr to 200 column volume/hr under a pressure from 0.2 kgf/cm 2 to 7 kgf/cm 2 . The raw material liquid is passed through the column device for low pressure-high pressure liquid chromatography in the same way as in ordinary column devices, so that a material such as protein in the raw material liquid is absorbed onto the granular filler charged into the column chamber. The column, the column device and the column device-using method exhibit the following effects. (1) Since the column body and the head member of the column for the low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography are made of plastics, the raw material liquid to be treated is not contained with rust or the like. (2) When at least the column body is made of the transparent or translucent resin, whether a bubble is mixed into the granular filler charged into the column chamber of the column body or not can be easily found out from the outside. Therefore, even if bubbles are contained in the filler, the bubbles can be easily removed by attaching a pouring syringe to the inflow opening of the column head portion or the outflow opening of the column body and pouring a solvent sucked in the syringe into the column body under pressure. Accordingly, the intended material can be excellently separated and purified. Furthermore, when the head portion is also made of the transparent or translucent resin, contamination of the filler with such bubbles can be more effectively discovered. (3) Since the column and the head member are made of the resin, the column and column device are light in weight and easy to handle, so that the column for the low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography can be easily fitted to a separating/purifying system. (4) Since the column body and the head member are made of the resin, the column can be less expensively produced. (5) When the surface of the head member facing an interior of the column body is shaped in a conical form tapered in an axially outward direction, bubbles which happen to mix into the filler, can be easily discharged out of the column. (6) The pressure-proof ring is press fitted around the outer periphery of a portion of the column body to which the head member is fitted. The pressure ring prevents the column body from radially outwardly expansion due the internal pressure acting in the column chamber. Accordingly, breakage of the column and leakage of the liquid can be effectively prevented. (7) When the column chamber has a cylindrical shape and the ratio of axial length/the diameter of the column chamber is set at not more than 2, the physiologically active material such as protein can be effectively separated and purified at a high speed under low pressure. (8) When the column is constituted by the column body having a cylindrical outer peripheral surface and a cylindrical inner peripheral surface forming the column chamber, the productivity of the column can be enhanced. These and other optional features and advantages of the invention will be appreciated upon reading of the following description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings, with the understanding that some modification, change and variation of the same could be made by the skilled in the art to which the invention pertains. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the attached drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a sectional views of an embodiment of the column for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention in a disassembled state; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the embodiment of the column for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention in Fig. 1 in an assembled state; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of another embodiment of the column for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention in an assembled state; Fig. 4 is a figure schematically illustrating a separating/purifying system using the column device for low pressure-high speed chromatography as shown in Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the eluting time and the detected amount of ultraviolet rays with respect to Anti-body separating Test No. 1; Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the eluting time and the detected amount of ultraviolet rays when the affinity chromatography was effected, by using a column for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention; Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the eluting time and the detected amount of ultraviolet rays when the supernatant liquid of a serum culture were separated and purified, by using the column for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention; Fig. 8 is diagram illustrating the relationship between the eluting time and the detected amount of ultraviolet rays when ion exchange chromatography was effected by using the column for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS As the transparent or translucent resins to be used for the cylindrical column body and the head portion of the column according to the present invention, for example, mention may be made of polypropylene, high density polyethylene, polysulfone and polyvinyl chloride. Among them, polypropylene is considered preferred. The thickness of the column body and that of the head may be appropriately determined in view of the separating and purifying pressure and the kind of the materials used, etc. The term "resin" used herein includes "plastics". In order to visually observe the existence of a bubbles having the diameter of not less than 1 mm from the outside of the column device, the linear light transmittance of the column is preferably not less than 8 %. In the case of translucent polypropylene resin, it is desirable that the linear light transmittance is 2 % or more and the thickness is not more than 6 mm so that the flowing of the liquid through the column device may be visually observed from the outside, whereas the linear light transmittance is not less than 8 % or more so that the bubble having the diameter of 1 mm or more may be visually observed from the outside of the column. In that case, the thickness of the resin is not more than 3 mm. A column chamber is formed inside the cylindrical column body. The shape of the column chamber is generally designed cylindrical. However, so long as the liquid is assuredly passed through the column chamber uniformly, the column chamber is not necessarily limited to the cylindrical shape. Further, in order to smoothly flow the raw material liquid through the column and facilitate removal of any bubbles, the the internal shape of the column body on the side of the outflow opening is preferably designed in a conical shape having the outflow opening as a vertex. The fitting configuration and the dimensions of the cylindrical column body and the head portion are appropriately determined in view of the separating and purifying pressure. For example, when the head portion includes a large diameter portion and an inserting portion extending axially from the large diameter portion and the inserting portion is sealingly fitted into of the open end portion of the column body, the outer diameter of the outer peripheral portion of the inserting portion is slightly set greater than the inner diameter of the inner peripheral surface of the open end portion of the column body. The outer diameter of the outer peripheral portion of the inserting portion and the inserted (press-fitted length) of the inserting portion in the open end portion are so set that when the inserting portion is fitted into the open end portion of the column body, the inserting portion holds its position in the open end portion against a given internal pressure. A pair of upstream and downstream filters are made of a porous resinous material such as Teflon, and have such an outer diameter as slightly greater than the inner diameter of the column chamber. The filters are fixedly press fitted inside the column chamber. The filler is charged into the column chamber between the upstream and downstream filters inside of the column for the low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention. As such fillers, for example, mention may be made of various chromatography carriers such as an ion exchange chromatography carrier, a hydrophobic chromatography carrier, reverse phase chromatography carrier and affinity chromatography carrier. When the separation and purification is effected at a high flow rate, the high speed affinity chromatography carrier using a porous polymer or silica as a material and having high hardness and a high adsorbing capacity is used. This carrier enables the separation even at a high flow rate of 50-200 column volume/hr at a high yield without any substantial loss, and exhibits an adsorbing power of not less than 10 mg-IgG/ml (gel) in the case of an antibody (mouse IgG at 10% breakthrough). However, if the flow rate is more than 200 column volume/hr, this power largely decreases. The grain diameter of the carrier used in the present invention is preferably 20-50 µm from the standpoint that the raw material liquid should be passed through the carrier at a high speed with no greater pressure loss. As the filler, a material made of a crosslinked copolymer of stylene and divinylbenzene and composed of grains having relatively large or thick holes (through pores) and numerous small or thin pores (adsorbing pores) branched from the large or thick pores may be used (See Fig. 8a). As such a material, for example, a filler commercially available under a tradename of Poros™ gel manufactured by PerSeptive Biosystems (U.S.A.) may be used. This Poros™ gel may be used as a gel for Perfusion Chromatography. Further, as the above filler, a composite structural material may be used, in which a hydrogel having adsorbing groups is filled in a lattice made of polystyrene. As such a material, a filler having a rigid composition matrix and commercially available under a tradename of Hyper D™ gel manufactured by Biosepra Inc. (U.S.A.) may be used. Hyper D™ gel may be used as a gel for Hyperdiffusion Chromatography. In the following table, Poros™ and Hyper D™ are given by way of example. POROS® media are based on a highly crosslinked polystyrene/divinylbenzene support matrix which provides high mechanical strength and excellent resistance to a broad range of solvents and chemicals, including pH 1-14. To create a biocompatible environment for delicate biological molecules, this base is then coated with a crosslinked polymer creating a uniform charge-neutral surface with high concentrations of hydroxylgroups. This hydrophilic surface coating is also highly chemically resistant and functions as a reliable platform for derivitization with a wide range of functional groups. The resulting chromatographic particle has full mechanical and chemical resistance, performs without non-specific adsorption, is non-denaturing to proteins and provides for enhanced recovery of biological activity. Comparison of Protein A gels Filler (particle diameter) Carrier base Human IgG adsorbing capacity at 10% breakage [mg/ml-gel] alkali resistance (durability) Hyper D Protein A (35µm) rigid, polystyrene composite 19-20 O ○ Poros 20 Protein A (20µm) Crosslinked polystyrene/divinylbenzene 19-20 ○ Poros 50 Protein A (50µm) 10-11 Sepharose F.F. Protein A (45-165µm) Highly crosslinked agarose 9-10 ▵ Measurement condition: Flow rate ··· 60cm/hr, IgG conc. ··· 1mg/ml As the adsorbing solvent and washing solvent used in the present invention, for example, a buffer solution having a high content of a salt having a great concentration of sodium chloride, sodium sulfate or the like may be used. For example, the antibodies have been recently being fractioned in the industrial scale as diagnosis medicines. When a antibody: Mouse IgGl is to be separated with an affinity chromatography carrier using Protein A as a ligand, a high viscosity solvent (1.5 M glycine + 3M-NaCl, pH 8.9) is used as an adsorbing buffer solution. As to the eluting solvent, the intended material is eluted with a buffer solution having a high concentration of a salt in many cases. In these cases, the buffer solution having a high concentration of the salt is also used as the eluting solution in the case of the ion exchange chromatography and the affinity chromatography. A variety of materials may be separated and purified by using the column for the low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention. As materials to be favorably separated and purified, for example, mention may be made of various proteins such as blood-coagulating factors, recombined proteins, antibody proteins and sugar proteins. (Embodiments) The present invention will be explained in more detailed with reference to embodiments illustrated in the attached drawings. Figs. 1 and 2 are sectional views of an embodiment of the column device for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention. Into a cylindrical column body 1 made of a transparent or translucent resin is inserted a part of a cylindrical head portion 2 also made of a transparent or translucent resin at an open end portion 3 of the column body 1. The cylindrical column body 1 has a shape similar to that of a tip portion of an injector and has a thickness, "el", of 0.5 mm or more. One end of the column body is opened at 3, and the other is throttled in a funnel-shaped form with a thin outflow opening 4. The head portion 2 includes a large diameter portion 5 and an inserting portion 6 extending axially from a central portion of the large diameter portion 5. The inserting portion 3 has an outer diameter almost equal but slightly larger than the inner diameter of the open end portion 6 of the cylindrical column body 1. As shown in Fig. 2, the inserting portion 6 is intimately and sealingly inserted into the open end portion 3 of the cylindrical column body 1. A central portion of the head portion 2 is provided with a through hole A communicating with the exterior and the interior of the column body 1. The inserting portion 6 of the head portion 2 closely engages with the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical column body 1 over its entire outer peripheral surface so that a wide contact interface may be assured between them. The under surface of the large diameter portion 5 contacts the end face of the open end portion 3 of the column body 1. As shown in Fig. 2, the head portion 2 is inserted into the cylindrical column body 1 to define a column chamber 7 inside the cylindrical column body 1. A pair of filters 8, 8' are fitted at opposite ends of the column chamber 7, and a granular filler 9 for low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography is charged between a pair of the filters 8, 8'. After the head portion 2 is fitted into the cylindrical column body 1, a pressure-proof ring 10 is press fitted around a portion of the outer periphery of the column body 1 into which the inserting portion 6 of the head portion 2 is fitted. The outer diameter of the large diameter portion 5 of the head portion 2 is made greater than that R1 of the column body 1, so that the ring 10 is stably held around the column body 1, while the ring is butted against the under face of the large diameter portion 5 extending radially outwardly from the column body 1. The pressure-proof ring 10 prevents the cylindrical column body 1 from expanding due to the internal pressure acting inside the column body 1. The inner diameter R2 of the pressure-proof ring 10 is made slightly smaller than the outer diameter R1 of the cylindrical column body 1. Although depending upon the materials used, leakage of the liquid from the column can be effectively prevented when the difference of R1-R2 is set at for example 0.4 mm to 0.6 mm. The pressure-proof ring 10 reinforces the cylindrical column body 1 and the head portion 2 so that the column may withstand a given internal pressure. The inserting portion 6 closely contacts the inner peripheral portion of the cylindrical column body 1 over the entire width of the outer peripheral surface to ensure the large contact area. For example, in order to afford up to pressure proof of 7 kg/cm 2 between the column body 1 and inserting portion 6, the length L1 of the inserting portion 6 is set at 4 mm or more. The length of the inserting portion 6 may be appropriately determined in view of a desired internal pressure. Each of the cylindrical column body 1 and the head portion 2 is made of a material having great strength and great hardness, being strong against an acid and alkali to be used in the chromatography, heat resistive against temperatures for the sterilization in the autoclave, and so transparent or translucent as to allow visual observation of the interior of the column from the outside. The material must not react with the liquid to be treated. For example, when a physiological material such as protein is to be separated and purified, the materials for the column body and the head portion must be materials not reacting with the physiological material. As the resins satisfying the above requirements, for example, thermoplastic resin such as polypropylene, high density polyethylene, polysulfone and/or polyvinyl chloride may be preferably used. In this embodiment, the cylindrical column body 1 and the head portion 2 are made of polypropylene. On the other had, the material of the pressure-proof ring 10 is not limited to any one. When the pressure-proof ring 10 is made of a resin, the resin needs to have strength and hardness. From the above point of view, polyvinyl chloride is used as the pressure-proof ring 10 in this embodiment. When the pressure-proof ring 10 is made of polyvinyl chloride, the width L2 and the thickness e2 of the pressure-proof ring 10 are set at 3 mm or more and 3 mm or more, respectively. The filters 8, 8' are made of a porous material such as Teflon difficult to adsorb protein or the like, and have a number of pores allowing passage of the liquid and the solution but not allowing the passage of the granular filler therethrough. As the granular filler 9, a variety of chromatography carriers such as an ion exchange chromatography carrier, a hydrophobic chromatography carrier, a reverse phase chromatography carrier and an affinity chromatography carrier may be used. In order to effect the separation and purification at high flow rate, a hard gel made of a material such as a porous polymer or silica is used. The carrier preferably has the grain size of 20 µm to 50 µm from the standpoint of allowing the passage with a low pressure loss at high flow rate. In this embodiment, the column chamber 7 is designed in a low-aspect shape having a ratio of an axial length L/a diameter D being 2 or less. By so constructing, the pressure loss can be suppressed to a low level even when the liquid is flown through the column at a high flow rate. Therefore, no high pressure needs not be applied during flowing the liquid through the column. Consequently, the breakage of the cylindrical column body 1 and the head portion 2 made of the resin(s) as well as the leakage of the liquid can be prevented. Fig. 3 shows another embodiment of the low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention, which embodiment is the same as that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 except for the configurations of the column body and the head portion. In the column device shown in Fig. 3, a stepped portion is provided at each of corresponding contact outer and inner peripheral surfaces of the column body 1 and the head portion 2, respectively, and the stepped portions mesh with each other to effectively prevent the leakage of the liquid through the contacting interface between the column body 1 and the head portion 2. Fig. 4 shows an example of a separating/ purifying system using a column device for the low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention (Low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography system manufactured by Millipore Inc. under the name of Consep LC100). A sample liquid in a syringe 31 is fed into a mixing vessel 32, and a buffer liquid or a wash liquid in a bottle 34A, 34B, 34C, 34D is fed into the mixing vessel 32. In the mixing vessel 32, the buffer liquid is mixed in the sample liquid. The resulting mixed liquid is fed into the column device, and a material to be separated is adsorbed onto the filler. The intended material is separated, purified and collected in a collector bottle 35A, 35B, 35C, ··· by switching feeding of the buffer liquid and the wash liquid. 36 is a UV cell, and a CPU 37 controls operation of the pump, feeding of the buffer liquid, operation of the UV cell and switching of the collector bottle according to a given program. A recorder 38 displays and records results measured by the UV cell 36. In the separating/purifying system, the column device for the low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention is attached in a lateral direction, but the column device can be attached in a vertical direction, in an oblique direction or in a reversely vertical direction. The present invention makes it possible to separate and purify the physiological material such as protein at a high flow rate under a high pressure. For this purpose, a gear pump or a roller pump (feed rate: 3 liters/min.) is used as a pump. For example, the flow rate of a gear pump used in the low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography system Consep LC100 (Millipore Inc.) is to be controlled based on the pressure. In this pump, a high flow rate up to 50 ml/min is attainable, and its limit pressure loss is set at 7 kgf/cm 2 from the standpoint of the quantitativeness of the flow rate. In order to separate and purify the protein, the pressure is preferably set at not more than 7 kgf/cm 2 . On the other hand, the flow rate is set from the standpoint of the practical separating and purifying operation, and the configuration of the column is required to satisfy the low pressure and practical flow rate. Experiments : In the following, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the following experiments. Antibody Separating Test No. 1 A column device for the low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography according to the present invention was set to the low pressure-high speed liquid chromatography system shown in Fig. 3. An antiserum, 250 µl, preliminarily filtered with a filter having pores of not more than 0.8 µm was passed through the column device at a treating flow rate of 80 column volume/hr (4 ml/min.), and adsorbed onto a filler. Thereafter, the column device was washed by passing a wash liquid (20mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.4) through the column device for 12 minutes, and next the antibody (IgG) adsorbed onto the granular filler was eluted by passing an eluting liquid (0.1 M citric acid + 0.15 M-NaCl, pH 4) through the column device for 10 minutes. Ingredients contained in the liquid eluted from the column were measured with the UV detector, thereby obtaining a chart in Fig. 5. It is seen from this chart that the antibody (IgG) was extremely excellently adsorbed and eluted. As the granular filler, a high speed type affinity chromatography carrier was charged, in a wetted state, into the column chamber. In the affinity chromatography carrier, silica gel having the average diameter of 30 µm was used as a base material, and Protein A was used as a ligand. The liquid was flown through the column device in the order of the inflow opening of the central portion of the head portion, the column chamber and the outflow opening in the cylindrical column body. A calibration test before passing the antiserum revealed that the pressure of 3 kgf/cm 2 was generated inside the column chamber in the case of 4 ml/min. (80 column volume/hr). The maximum flow rate of the gear pump assembled into the chromatography system used was 50 ml/min., and the separating and purifying operation was effected at the treating flow rate of 80 column volume/hr. In that case, a column having a column volume up to 37.5 ml can be fitted to the system. An amount of the granular filler can be selectively determined, based on the adsorbing volume of the granular filler and the amount (treating amount) of the intended material contained in the liquid to be treated. In this test, the amount of the filler was about 1 ml. In order to set the purifying time period at 30 minutes, the column was used, in which the volume of the column chamber was set at 3 ml, and the ratio of the length/the diameter of the column chamber was 0.6. The outer diameter R1 of the cylindrical column body was 23 mm, the inner diameter R2 of the pressure-proof ring was 22.57 mm, the length L of the inserting portion of the head portion was 10 mm, and the diameters of the inflow opening and the outflow opening were 4 mm and 2 mm, respectively. Separating Test Nos. 2 through 4 Further Separation Tests were conducted. Results are shown in Figs. 6-8, respectively. Separating Test No. 2 (Affinity chromatography) Sample: Mouse ascites (Mouse IgGl), 7.5 mg-IgG (25 ml) Used column: column chamber volume 20 ml, column chamber length/diameter 1.46, Protein A plastic column (gel 20 ml, 26 x 38 mmL) Flow rate: Adsorption ·· 20 ml/min. (60 column volume/hr) Washing ··· 20 ml/min. (60 column volume/hr) x 20 minutes Eluting ··· 10 ml/min. (30 column volume/hr) Buffer: Adsorbing/washing liquid ·· 1.5 M glycine + 3 M-NaCl (pH 8.9) Eluting liquid ·· phosphoric acid-citric acid rubber solution (pH 6) Purifying time: 25 minutes Yield: 96% (Mouse IgG 189.4 mg) Separating Test No. 3 Process scale purification Sample: Supernatant liquid in Serum culture (Mouse IgGl), 0.73 mg/ml (400 ml) Used column: column chamber volume 50 ml, column chamber length/diameter 1.0, Protein A plastic column (gel 50 ml, 40 x 40 mmL) Flow rate: Adsorption ·· 50 ml/min. (60 column volume/hr) Washing ··· 50 ml/min. (60 column volume/hr) x 10 minutes Eluting ··· 20 ml/min. (24 column volume/hr) Buffer: Adsorbing/washing liquid ·· 1.5 M glycine + 3 M-Nacl (pH 8.9) Eluting liquid ·· phosphoric acid-citric acid rubber solution (pH 6) Purifying time: 45 minutes Yield: 95 % (mouse IgG 277.4 mg) Separating Test No. 4 (Ion exchange chromatography) Sample: Mixture of ovalbumin and bovine albumin (Use amount of each of them: 1 mg) Used column: column chamber volume 5 ml, column chamber length/diameter 0.8, Poros® 20HQ (Strong anion exchanger), pressure loss 6 kgf/cm 2 Flow rate: Adsorption ·· 10 ml/min. (120 column volume/hr) Washing ··· 10 ml/min. (120 column volume/hr) x 2 minutes Eluting ··· 10 ml/min. (120 column volume/hr) Buffer: Adsorbing/washing liquid ·· 50 mM tris-HCl (pH 8.5) Eluting liquid ·· 50 mM tris-HCl + 0.5 M Nacl (pH 8.5) Purifying time: 8 minutes Yield: 96% (ovalbumin), 95% (bovine albumin) (BSA)

Claims: A column for liquid chromatography, comprising a tubular body (1) made of resin having a first open end (3) and a second end having a fluid outflow opening (4), a head member (2) made of resin detachably fitted in said first end (3) of the tubular body and having a fluid inflow opening (A) through it, said tubular body and said head member defining a column chamber, and a pair of filters (8, 8') in said tubular body for enclosing, in use, a granular filler, characterised by a pressure-resistant ring (10) fitted around the outside of the tubular body (1) where the head member (2) is fitted inside, the ring (10) preventing expansion of the tubular body (1) under pressure of fluid inside the tubular body. A column according to claim 1, wherein the ring (10) is press-fitted on the tubular body (1). A column according to claim 2, wherein in the unfitted state the internal diameter of the ring (10) is smaller than the external diameter of the tubular body (1) where the ring is fitted. A column according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said tubular body (1) and head member (2) are each of transparent or translucent resin selected from polypropylene, high density polyethylene, polysulfone and polyvinyl chloride. A column according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a stepped portion is circumferentially provided at each of sealingly contacting surfaces of said tubular body (1) and said head member (2), and said stepped portion of the body (1) engages with that of head member (2) (Fig. 3). A column according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said head member (2) has a flange (5) of larger diameter than an insertion portion (6) sealingly fitted into said open end of the tubular body. A column according to claim 6, wherein said insertion portion (6) of the head member has a cylindrical shape, a thread is provided at an outer peripheral surface of the insertion portion, a corresponding thread is provided at a cylindrical inner peripheral surface of the open end of the tubular body (1), and said threads mesh with each other. A column according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein said column chamber has a cylindrical shape, and the ratio of axial length/diameter of the column chamber is not more than 2. A column according to any one of claims 1 to 8 having a granular filler charged into said column chamber. A method for separating and purifying a physiologically active material by liquid chromatography using the column according to claim 9 at a speed from 50 column volume/hr to 200 column volume/hr under a pressure from 20 kPa (0.2 kgf/cm 2 ) to 700 kPa (7 kgf/cm 2 ).

Inventors: MAJIMA TSUYOSHI, TAKEUCHI HIDEKI, YAMADA KAZUNARI, YAMADA SAICHI, MAJIMA, TSUYOSHI, TAKEUCHI, HIDEKI, YAMADA, KAZUNARI, YAMADA, SAICHI
Applicants: NGK INSULATORS LTD, NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
Application year: 1994
Main classification: G01N30
IPC codes: B01D15, G01N30